Tesla needs to move to CCS in North America

[jboy210]

IMHO, CCS is the way forward for Tesla.

Now that Electrify America (EA) is rolling out CCS based chargers, this let's Tesla expand it's "Tesla Supercharging network" without the cost of new installations or buy building few dedicated Superchargers. Instead they can strike a deal to piggy back on the Electrify American network, while still maintaining their dedicated Superchargers features such as free charging for qualified owners.

To do this Tesla needs switch to manufacturing cars with CCS, as they are with the cars going to Europe.

Tesla is already install a dual CCS/Supercharger retrofit kit to their existing superchargers in Europe. So with both "regular" supercharger and EA CCS this would would let NA Tesla owners with CCS ports continue to use the existing Supercharger locations and the new "EA Superchargers". Also it would it incentives North American buyers to upgrade to new model Teslas that supported CCS rather then hold onto their older vehicles.

What do people think?

 

[Snow Drift]

I agree that one standard plug makes sense.

 

[ljbad4life]

Tesla could just release a ccs adapter like their CHadeMO adapter instead of retrofitting thousands of supercharger stalls When Tesla should be focused on expanding.

 

[ewoodrick]

Tesla could just release a ccs adapter like their CHadeMO adapter instead of retrofitting thousands of supercharger stalls When Tesla should be focused on expanding.

Or maybe just go with CHADEMO, as the US has a lot more installed

 

[Saghost]

IMHO, CCS is the way forward for Tesla.

Now that Electrify America (EA) is rolling out CCS based chargers, this let's Tesla expand it's "Tesla Supercharging network" without the cost of new installations or buy building few dedicated Superchargers. Instead they can strike a deal to piggy back on the Electrify American network, while still maintaining their dedicated Superchargers features such as free charging for qualified owners.

To do this Tesla needs switch to manufacturing cars with CCS, as they are with the cars going to Europe.

Tesla is already install a dual CCS/Supercharger retrofit kit to their existing superchargers in Europe. So with both "regular" supercharger and EA CCS this would would let NA Tesla owners with CCS ports continue to use the existing Supercharger locations and the new "EA Superchargers". Also it would it incentives North American buyers to upgrade to new model Teslas that supported CCS rather then hold onto their older vehicles.

What do people think?

So you're telling me that you think it makes sense for Tesla to spend their own money to retrofit 321,000+ cars and almost 5,500 stalls to replace the existing functional solution with a new plug that's more expensive to make, harder for the user to operate, and doesn't add any new functionality for Tesla?

Having one standard is a good thing, but that doesn't mean that Tesla should spend a fortune to match an inferior solution announced after they released theirs - especially since Tesla is building far more cars and far more charging stations than their competition. 80% of the BEVs sold this year in the US are Teslas, and more than half of all BEVs in the US in this century are Teslas.

If anything, others who are serious about building long range EVs should ask to join Tesla's system (which they've said on several occasions they'll be open to on fair terms.)

What I do expect to see coming out of the EU situation is a Tesla CCS1 adapter for the US market, which will let people who are really committed to CCS charge their Teslas that way, but not spend a fortune retrofitting a superior network to someone else's inferior standard.

 

[Snow Drift]

Or maybe just go with CHADEMO, as the US has a lot more installed

CHADEMO is a Japanese standard, but Europe and US OEMs don’t really use it. So, considering it’s bulk and fairly low adoption CCS makes more sense to me.

 

[ljbad4life]

Or maybe just go with CHADEMO, as the US has a lot more installed

Tesla already has their chademo adapter.

 

[Chuq]

I agree that they should have done this before the Model 3 was launched, but now that horse has bolted.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Simply put: no.

Tesla didn't want to go CCS in Europe but its hand was forced by legislation that made it extremely difficult to continue with proprietary charging.
No pressure in North America, so it can continue as planned.

 

[mrElbe]

Also note that American CCS connector is different from EU CCS connector.

 

[BerTX]

The other factor in changing to the CCS "standard" is that Tesla does not like doing things according to someone else's agenda. The CCS is probably controlled by a consortium of manufacturers. Why take the chance that they will "control" the standard into uselessness? VW wants to slow down Tesla? Convince the committee that the charge handle is too light and might blow away in a high wind. Change the requirement to have it weigh 75 pounds. Silly example, I know, but the committee has its own agendas and at the very least can slow down development.

 

[SageBrush]

If the CCS network actually provided something substantially better than the Supercharger network there might be something to talk about but that is not the case at all:

CCS is mostly slower
CCS is going up on routes where Superchargers are already in place.

So changing to CCS would benefit VW et al, add congestion to Superchargers, and give very little if nothing in return to Tesla and Tesla owners. If the CCS stations are so important to OP he can buy a CHadeMo adapter when they become available.

 

[Gwgan]

Tesla has been a member of CharIn
CharIN e. V. welcomes member Tesla Motors

For all we know their plug can already handle V2G but they just don’t allow it (yet).

They will do whatever they think it will take to enhance the Tesla experience and sales but they can only control that experience at their own chargers so they may very well offer an adapter or add cables in NA when and if it really matters. The chademo adapter came along to support sales demand in Canada and then Japan before there were many SC’s. They’ve redemonstrated their commitment to SC coverage in Canada and Destination charging continues to exand so I suspect that is their focus for now. As long as there are adequate DS’s and SC’s for most owners why do something else? If I use a non-Tesla charger I am probably paying too much and occupying the one and only charging stall (one armed bandit?)—not a great experience.

 

[fcharland]

Unless the only one available on your way is a chademo....

 

[miimura]

Suggested change to thread title: Tesla needs to make their cars "omnivorous".

Tesla should make it possible to charge from any standard socket and standard DC charger in the market. This means that in North America they should also make a CCS adapter in addition to making the existing CHAdeMO adapter compatible with the Model 3.

 

[nwdiver]

I agree that one standard plug makes sense.

Agreed. Seems like the rational thing would be to make the most prominent plug the standard... which isn't CCS... it's Tesla.

 

[Saghost]

Suggested change to thread title: Tesla needs to make their cars "omnivorous".

Tesla should make it possible to charge from any standard socket and standard DC charger in the market. This means that in North America they should also make a CCS adapter in addition to making the existing CHAdeMO adapter compatible with the Model 3.

Six months ago, I didn't really think that was going to happen. However, since then Tesla officially promised a CCS2 adapter for European S/X cars as part of the CCS conversion to comply with EU law. If they've solved that, it'd be trivial to give us a CCS1 version for the US, so I think you'll see that next year.

 

[miimura]

Six months ago, I didn't really think that was going to happen. However, since then Tesla officially promised a CCS2 adapter for European S/X cars as part of the CCS conversion to comply with EU law. If they've solved that, it'd be trivial to give us a CCS1 version for the US, so I think you'll see that next year.

Tesla has been a member of the CCS industry group CharIN almost since its inception. To my thinking, a CCS adapter has been in the works for a long time. Tesla time...

 

[SeminoleFSU]

Tesla needs to make a CCS adapter for US vehicles. Problem solved.

 

[Chuq]

Tesla needs to make a CCS adapter for US vehicles. Problem solved.

Agree, it shouldn't be that hard. I'm not aware that (electrically) The Tesla Type 2 is any different to the Tesla US plug from a DC point of view, and CCS1 and CCS2 are based on the same basic format, so if they can make this CCS2 to Tesla-EU adaptor, there's no reason they can't make a CCS1 to Tesla-US adaptor. It's just the shape/mouldings.

The only logical reason I can think of is perceived lack of demand. There are large portions of Europe and Australia which are outside supercharger coverage. North America has some small areas but for the most part it's ubiquitous.